EXHIBIT V.
Annex 9.
“Important to whalers: Captain Spencer, of the British whaling bark Faraway, at Shantan Bay, September 1, was boarded by a Russian war steamer and served with the following notice:
- “1. Foreign whaling vessels can not enter into any of the gulfs or bays, nor approach nearer than 3 miles to the coasts and islands belonging to us in the seas of Bering and Ochotsk, for the whale fishery in the gulfs, bays, and straits, and within a distance of three miles from the coasts and islands mentioned is granted exclusively to Russians.
- “2. Foreigners can not land on our coasts or islands without the permission of the chief of the place, neither for supplies or wood nor to melt down the fat of whales. This permission should be obtained from the governor-general of the Primorskara Ablast at Vladivostock or Petropavlovski.
- “3. Captains of foreign vessels are forbidden under any circumstances to leave their sailors in any uninhabited place within Russian territories as a punishment for breaches of discipline. For this purpose, and for repairs, for victualling, and for other necessaries, Petropavlovski, the port of Kamschatka, is open to foreign vessels. During their anchorage in that port they are forbidden to carry on the whale fishery, and they should submit themselves to and carry out all the regulations and laws of that port.”
Captain Spencer reports that the water was alive with whales, and he urgently solicited the privilege of remaining twenty days, but the commander of the war steamer replied that his orders were peremptory, and he had no discretion in the matter—that licenses to whale in the Ochotsk would be granted to foreign applicants for $250 at Petropavlovski. Under the circumstances Captain Spencer had no alternative other than to recall his boats, which had lowered for a chase, and leave the ground.
Deposition of William R. Wing.
Exhibit 9.
(Signed) W. F. C.